NOTE: The Lite Version is our electronic version which is available for free from this web site.  It has limited content but gives you a taste of what is offered in our Full Version.

The Full Version is our printed newsletter which is mailed to you.  It contains everything in the Lite Version along with many other reprinted pages from other NRHS newsletters, railroad publications, and flyers that contain photographs, drawings, and maps.  The full version is just another benefit of joining our chapter. 

 

THE TRANSFER TABLE
The Wilmington Chapter NRHS Official Newsletter
Internet Edition

VOLUME 28 NO. 3 MARCH 2006

Back To Wilmington Chapter Web Site

FEBRUARY 16, 2006 MEETING NOTES

    President Phil Snyder called the meeting to order with 23 members and 1 guest (who later became a member!). The minutes were read by Secretary Dan Frederick and approved as corrected. Ralph Stevens's Treasurer's Report was approved as read after noting the $255 profit from our Chapter's last standing-room-only Trolley Trip. National Director Tom Posatko reported on the apologies from NRHS National Headquarters regarding dues notices and continuing publications difficulties. Ralph also notes that so far we have donations for 2/3 of the amount needed to sponsor a youngster for Railcamp this year.

    After a short break, the slide program was presented by long-time member Greg Ajamian. This was the second half of his program from October 2005 with the addition of some truly vintage (25+ year old) slides. We were treated to the East Broad Top in the snow in February 1980 and again in sunshine one year later with lots of triple-headed views of steam locomotives #12, #15, and #17. We also saw the Chessie Safety Express with #614 on September 27, 1981 through Point of Rocks and Harpers Ferry to Martinsburg, WV. We even got to see wreck cranes in Brunswick and Martinsburg. Next there was the Chapter Trip "Talbot Bullet" on April 24, 1982 with Maryland & Delaware #23 from Clayton, DE to Easton, MD.

    There was a recent visit to the B&O Museum in Baltimore, and brand "new" (still in SP) power on the Penn Rail Line in Avondale, PA. Plus a variety of auto racks, severely weathered CSX power, and an unrolling work train ramp in Wilsmere. We ended with some historic miscellaneous shots with everything from a wig-wag signal in Camden, MO, street running in Kansas City, and the variety available in Chicago = CNW, CN, CP. UP, EJ&E, SF, and SOO. It was, in the humble opinion of this totally unbiased reporter, without any doubt whatsoever, simply THE greatest, most fantastic, and absolutely best slide show the Chapter had for the entire month of February 2006!


$$ DUES ARE DUE $$

    Don't believe everything you read, especially if it is your dues notice from NRHS National office. The notices that National sent out were not only LATE but they were WRONG, too!

The correct amount for is:
National Dues are $22.
Chapter Dues add $12
For most people for 2006 = $34

National dues are:
$22 for primary chapter members
$11 for Student members
$4 for EACH Family member plus
$12 for our Chapter so a Chapter Member & Spouse would be $38

If you have not paid yet, please send the full amount to our Treasurer:
Ralph Stevens, Jr.
1432 Governor House Circle
Wilmington, DE 19809-2485

If you paid less than the correct amount, please send the remaining amount to Ralph ASAP.

    If you would like to donate any additional funds to the Chapter, ANY amount would be welcomed at ANY time. If you would like to "Sponsor an Extra Once" for an issue of the newsletter (like Richard Hall did last year) please contact the Editor at any time and we will make certain that you get the proper recognition for your generosity.


IN CASE OF BAD WEATHER

    If our normal "THIRD THURSDAY" NRHS meeting is canceled due to inclement weather, it will be postponed and held on the FOURTH THURSDAY. If it must again be canceled, it will NOT be rescheduled. We will simply wait for the next month's normal "third Thursday" meeting. If the weather looks bad or is predicted to be bad, you may telephone the Claymont Community Center to see if it will be open that evening for our meeting.


  PUBLIC NOTICE

    Richard E. Hall of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society has prepared a book of over 160 pages on Company Service Cars of the PW&B, PB&W, and PRR.

    The work presents a selection of car numbers and history with many drawings representing the work train, wreck train, cabin, and other company service equipment of the PW&B, PB&W, and PRR which were maintained at the Wilmington Shops and / or saw service in our general area, primarily on the PW&B, PB&W main line, Media Division (the old P&BC which later became the Octoraro Branch), Delaware Division, and the former Norfolk Division (NYP&N).

    Detailed lists include: Car Numbers, Tools For Maintenance Of Way Tool Cars, Supplies For Camp Trains, Materials to Equip a Pay Car, Tools & Supplies for Cabin Cars, & more. Drawings include: Pay Cars, Business Cars, Maintenance of Way Equipment, Dynamometer Cars, Cranes, Clearance Car, hand cars, & more.

    Proceeds support the Wilmington Chapter. Price only $ 16.00 Plus $3.95 Postage (for each copy) Please make checks payable to: G. Ajamian and send orders with your complete mailing address to: Wilmington Chapter NRHS, P.O. Box 1136, Hockessin, DE 19707-5136.


 NEWS BITS   


TRINITY RAILWAY EXPRESS

by Tom Smith

Years ago railroad commuter operations were limited to the big population centers of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, plus smaller operations in Boston, San Francisco, Washington, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cleveland. Things have changed dramatically for the better since then. Although Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cleveland have dropped off, Boston, San Francisco and Baltimore-Washington have moved into the big time, and new metropolitan areas have also gotten into rail commuting including Miami, Los Angeles, New Haven, San Diego and Seattle, and even more are contemplating such services. And that doesn't even count the proliferation of light rail systems which have opened or are under construction.

I recently had another opportunity to visit one of these new operations, the Trinity Railway Express, linking the Texas cities of Dallas and Ft. Worth. In a state where it seems everything is done in a big way, the TRE has started small and grown slowly, but has been enjoying increasing ridership.

The TRE operates over former Rock Island trackage, which for me was mostly new mileage. At one time the trackage was jointly used with the Burlington, and was the route of the Twin Star Rocket and the Texas Zephyr. Although TRE owns the trackage now, it is still used by BNSF and UP for some freight traffic at off peak times. TRE Trains originate at Dallas Union Station, where DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit, not the one in Wilmington!) light rail trains and Amtrak share separate platforms. BN and UP trains pass through the terminal area as well, a great train watching location.

Service started in 1996 with a limited operation between Dallas and Irving, 9.5 miles, using refurbished RDC's acquired from VIA Rail Canada., and was operating only that segment when I first visited it in 2000. The complete 34 mile line opened to the former T&P station in Ft. Worth in 2001. The last mile and a half was all new trackage built to give TRE trains a separate right of way so trains would not be delayed by freight train congestion. As service expanded, additional capacity was acquired through the purchase of secondhand F59PH locomotives and Bombardier bi-level coaches from GO Transit in Toronto, as well as some new equipment of the same design. The bi-level equipment has mostly supplanted the RDC's, which are still used on some short turn runs.

TRE tickets are sold through platform vending machines. I parked at the Irving station and bought a one day pass for $4.50 which allowed unlimited riding on TRE as well as all DART Light Rail lines and buses and all Ft. Worth buses. I boarded an eastbound TRE train to Union Station, where I made an across the platform connection to a DART Blue Line train. After traveling through several downtown blocks it then plunged into a tunnel. I got off at the Cityplace station deep underground and took an elevator to street level, which brought me to the terminal of the McKinney Ave. Trolley, which operates vintage streetcars along a three mile loop, mostly along McKinney Ave.

The Trolley uses 4 cars in regular service, two of which are former Dallas cars, including a Birney and a double ended car, both literally restored from chicken coops. Another car is from Melbourne, and a fourth from Oporto, Portugal. I was able to ride all three cars required to cover the service, and visit the carbarn, which is open to the public.

I returned by the same route to Union Station and caught a mid-day TRE train to Ft. Worth. The train makes two stops in Ft. Worth, the first at the new Intermodal Transpiration Center (ITC), which is about a block north of the Santa Fe passenger station, used in pre-Amtrak days by Santa Fe and Rock Island and later by Amtrak. When the ITC opened, Amtrak moved into it, and it is also a place to transfer to Ft. Worth city buses. The second stop is about 600 yards farther along the new dedicated TRE track and ends at the former T&P station, once used by Burlington and T&P trains. The station and its 12-story office tower have been deserted for over 30 years, but the vacant massive waiting room has been restored, and the building is subject to a redevelopment project which may include a hotel on its upper floors. TRE uses 2 dedicated tracks in the T&P station which otherwise no longer has rail access.

TRE capacity is constrained by its single track with passing sidings. My return trip included a 15 minute scheduled stop at Richland Hills so that passing trains could clear. Passengers could get off to stretch their legs, or take photos (this isn't New Jersey!).

Local transit connections are made at many stations, and there is even a station that serves DFW Airport. Airport passengers transfer to a shuttle bus which takes them to a remote airport parking lot where they again must transfer to a parking lot shuttle to the air terminal. It is probably intended to serve airport employees as it is not particularly convenient for passengers with baggage who are not familiar with the system. Information and schedules are available on the Internet at www.the-T.com.


This copyrighted article was written for the "Transfer Table", the newsletter of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society by Chapter Member Richard E. Hall © Richard E. Hall 2005

ONE FOR THE BIRDS by Richard E. Hall

A number of the nearby modern day small weekly newspapers, such as "The Herald" published in Rising Sun, Cecil County, MD., and "The Southern Lancaster County Chronicle", printed in Quarryville, Lancaster County, PA, carry brief "OLDE NEWS" items from long past issues. Both "The Herald" and "The Chronicle" print items from "100 Years Ago" and "75" Years Ago" in their "OLD NEWS" sections.

On occasion they have the same item, word for word. The old "The Times" and early issues of "The Herald" also had "50 Years Ago" and I have seen other such papers with a mere "25 Years Ago". I find the bits of news from the past to be most interesting and occasionally they contain railroad related items. One thing about the "OLD NEWS" reports is starting to bother me. The "75 Years Ago" items are beginning to include incidents which I remember and occasionally the "100 Years Ago" section has the name of someone I remember.

For example, there have been reports in the "75 Years Ago" of three house fires which I remember and also a train wreck on the C&PD where a wooden refrigerator car loaded with meat was burned. In fact I have rather vivid memories of watching one of the fires at Battle Swamp (Woodlawn) and the Water Witch of Port Deposit fire chief coming over and asking to use my Grandmothers phone to call Perryville for assistance. I also recall when the fire engine from Rising Sun was called to the C&PD train wreck fire near Bald Friar and comments made during the afternoon that they had "been out there a long time". When the fire engine did return to town, it was announced by cranking the hand operated siren as they approached Wilson Avenue from the west on U.S. Rt. 1, (Main Street in town back then.) Cranking for a short sound of the siren when returning was typical. Mr. Brown was a plumber by trade and a long time member of the fire company.

His name is on the list of those who paid the $1 membership fee when the fire company was formed in June, 1921, to buy the town's first fire truck. He always responded when the fire house siren blew and stood on the right hand running board of the fire engine and cranked the siren. At least he did when he was sober enough to make it to the fire house when the telephone operator took a fire call. She blew the siren at the fire house from her switchboard in the phone exchange building on South Queen St. Some people would even crank their phone to ring the operator and ask her where the fire was.

The issue of "The Herald" for The Week of July 25, 2005, carried a small item reprinted from the old weekly newspaper which had been published in Rising Sun for so many years, "The Midland Journal" issue for the week of July 25, 1930. The article has a wee bit of railroad interest and it is truly "for the birds". The following is just as it was printed in "The Herald", and no, I don't remember it.

"A peculiar accident befell Amos Whitehead of North East last week. He is an employee of the B&O Railroad and was knocked from a rapidly moving hand car by a large buzzard. As the car passed a large flock of the birds near the track they took flight, one of them flying low directly over the car and striking the man with force enough to knock him from the small platform. He was considerably cut and bruised but not seriously hurt. The accident happened at Joppa, Harford County, Md."

For those not familiar with the name or location, Joppa was the last station on the B&O in Harford County before the railroad crossed into Baltimore County at the stream called Little Gunpowder Falls. If my little brain cell remembers correctly, the newspapers in the early 1930's carried a photo of an eastbound B&O 4-6-2 laying on its right side down on the side of an embankment with its drivers facing up. The caption noting the wreck was near the bridge over Little Gunpowder Falls, which was B&O Bridge 15B. The stream Little Gunpowder Falls flows into the Gunpowder River, which was mentioned in the "Transfer Table" issue for June 2004. Of course my memory may be in error, it could have been Big Gunpowder Falls which is about one and one third mile farther west on the B&O, but my pages of the Chessie System Roadway Maps for Philadelphia to Brunswick only cover from Philadelphia to bridge 15B located on the Baltimore County Line, shown on page 22 of the maps.

Joppa seems a long way from home for someone to be on a hand car in 1930, most people lived close to where they worked. Neither the automobiles or roads were conductive to traveling long distances back then. One thought is the B&O had made cuts in their work force in the very late 1920 era and Mr. Whitehead's local job may have been eliminated, but he had enough seniority to bid a job on a section gang in the Joppa area. Another possibility is he was working with an extra gang and their assignment had them working in the Joppa area at the time. Regardless of the reason for Mr. Whitehead being on a hand car in the Joppa area, the story is rather unique and it is definitely one "for the birds".

© 2005 NRHS, Richard E. Hall


SCHEDULE NOTES

Notices, announcements, schedules, etc. are provided here as a service to the members. The Chapter has no affiliation with any commercial operation, museum, or tourist line.

Now thru Monday, April 10, 2006 EXHIBIT -- CATASTROPHE ON THE RAILS: TRAIN WRECKS OF THE NORTHEAST UNITED STATES The face of railroading changed in 1853, when President-elect Franklin Pierce lost his son in a train derailment, a tragedy that generated international publicity and shocked the nation. This exhibit will explore why wrecks occurred, display photographs of some of the most infamous disasters and include artifacts related to accidents. Also featured will be examples of important safety equipment and government regulations introduced as a result, making railroads today one of the safest modes of travel. Included in regular Museum admission.

Saturday, March 25, 2006 Hartly Fire Hall, Hartly, DE.

Saturday, April 1, 2006 NARP Region 3 Annual MeetingThe Farnsworth House Restaurant (135 Farnsworth Avenue, Bordentown, NJ 08505) Trenton/Bordentown, NJ, a three minute walk from Bordentown station on the River Line (connections from Amtrak, NJT, and SEPTA trains at Trenton). Confirmed speaker: NARP President George Chilson Registration: $25.00, includes lunch http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/calendar/more/narp_region_3_annual_meeting/

Thursday, May 18th, 2006 - Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest

Here are the guidelines for entering images in this year's contest:

CATEGORIES: [note timeframes]

  1. STEAM - Photos with a steam locomotive as the primary subject within the last 5 years.
  2. DIESEL - Photos with a diesel locomotive as the primary subject within the last 5 years. This category also includes gas-electrics, Doodlebugs, RDCs, and FL9s north of Harmon, and the like.
  3. HEAVY ELECTRIC - Electric power on big railroads within the last 5 years.
  4. TRACTION - Trolleys & light rail including streetcars, all subways, etc. within the last 5 years.
  5. GENERAL - Any photo that does NOT include one of the above as the primary subject within the last 5 years. Passenger and freight cars, stations, signals, railfans, and the like go here.
  6. VINTAGE - Any railroad-related subject photographed 15 or more years ago.
  7. SPECIAL CATEGORY for 2006 = RR Bridge w/RR Equip and taken within the last two (2) years.

July 2-9, 2006 Independence Junction 2006 Philadelphia, PA NMRA Convention The convention will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in center city Philadelphia. An entrance to the center is the beautiful Headhouse of the ex Reading Railroads' Center City Passenger Terminal.

July 18-23, 2006 Buckeye Rails New Philadelphia, Ohio 2006 NRHS Convention - NRHS annual convention will be held in New Philadelphia, OH. Info on www.buckeyerails2006.org


CHAPTER EVENTS  

Thursday Mar. 16, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Frank Ferguson entitled "2005 Review"

Thursday Apr. 20, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Mike Burkhart entitled "Final Days of Conrail"

Saturday May 6, 2006, 6:22 AM Chapter Trip to Danbury, CT (details to follow) departing from Elwin, PA for a do-it-yourself, pay-as-you-go, bring-your-own-whatever Chapter Outing

Thursday May 18, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting Annual Doug Weaver Memorial Photo Contest, 2006 special category: RR Bridge w/RR Equipment

Thursday June 15, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Phil Snyder entitled "25 Years Ago"

Thursday July 20, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Dave Warner entitled "That (July) 70's Show"

Thursday Aug. 17, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Trip in lieu of normal meeting. Probably SEPTA Trip to Bryn Mawr

Thursday Sept. 21, 2006, 7 PM Chapter Meeting program by Dan Frederick entitled "Touring Europe"

The Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) meets at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month [except August & December] in the Darley Room at the Claymont Community Center on Green Street in Claymont, Delaware.  Visitors are always welcome. Admission to regular meetings is free. Check out our Website, thanks to Russ Fox at:   http://www.WilmingtonNRHS.com


    The Transfer Table is published six to ten times per year as the newsletter of the Wilmington Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.  Items in this publication do not represent the official position of either Officers or Members of the Wilmington Chapter or the Editor of this publication.

    Permission to reprint articles and news items appearing herein is granted to NRHS Chapters and other newsletters provided appropriate credit is given.   Contributions are always welcome and should be sent to the editor at SD40GMA@aol.com or send to: P.O. Box 1136, Hockessin, DE 19707-5136. Deadline for entries is the 25th of the month.

Chapter Officers
President: Phil Snyder
Vice President & Historian: Ron Cleaves
Treasurer: Ralph Stevens, Jr.
Secretary: Dan Frederick
National Director: Tom Posatko 
Editor: Greg Ajamian
Education Fund: Ed Thornton
Public Relations: Frank Ferguson, Jr.
Trip Director: Ralph Stevens, Jr.
Event Photographer:  Ron Cleaves
Web Master: Russ Fox

Back To Wilmington Chapter Web Site